How to Declutter Your Home {5 Daily Habits for a Clean House}!

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I don’t know about you, but when my home gets cluttered and out of control, I feel personally out of sorts and out of control. The state of my home really affects my emotional well being and my productivity.

Do you find clutter affects you that way as well?

Because clutter impacts me so much, it is very helpful for me to have daily routines to keep clutter and stress at bay. I’ll admit there are hectic seasons of life where it can be particularly challenging to keep order, but interestingly the busier I am the more important it becomes to stick to daily habits.

So where do we begin to form new habits?

Here is a 30 day habit forming plan I created for myself that takes loads of stress off my shoulders when I need to form new clutter-busting habits at my home! Hopefully it will help you too.

Ready?

It is as easy as:

1. Find four clutter hotspots in your home.

Where does most of your daily clutter land and the frustration begin?

Make a list of four problem areas in your home — the ones that REALLY drive you crazy every day. Think about manageable surfaces or identifiable areas of rooms rather than an entire room. Perhaps areas such as your kitchen or bathroom counters, a dining table, the floor around the front door, laundry baskets or your nightstand. If you have more than four, don’t worry. You can get to those later. For now, just pick the four most visible or frustrating areas. If you have one room that is a real problem every day, perhaps pick four manageable surfaces, closets or drawers all in that one space.

2. Select one outside hotspot.

Once you identify those daily clutter hotspots inside, think about areas outside of your home that cause you stress, frustrate or embarrass you regularly as well, such as your purse, car or front porch. Choose the worst daily offender. You’ll attack the rest later.

You should now be able to identify your top 5 worst clutter hotspots! Hooray! Now you know where to focus your attention.

Don’t you feel better already knowing you have narrowed down the biggest offenders?

You can do this. I promise.

REMEMBER: Don’t worry right now about how to solve every possible clutter problem all over the house, that can be overwhelming. Stay focused and you’ll succeed!

Ah–the most difficult room to keep clutter free is the kitchen! It seems like everytime someone walks through there something else lands in a spot that is not supposed to be there. (Even my two-year-old does this!!)

We never use our dining room so it is our catch all for everything we don’t want to put away. The table is always cluttered with junk mail, hats and mittens, various tools, school papers, bags of things that need be returned. Ugh it’s a major source of anxiety for me since I am the default cleaner of the room. :-/

I would be happy to clear two clutter spots-the kitchen counters and our bedside tables. It is obviously repetitive actions or habits, that create the problem so it becomes the issue of how to deal with the problem. Most of the kitchen counter problems have to do with daily mail and we’ve never had a good system for handling the volume of papers, many that need to be retained. Suggestions? Your featured rooms always look perfect.

my home office / “everything room” – With four young boys coming home from school with loads of paperwork, my office becomes the place to put things that does not have a home: art work, projects, etc. I think it is the last place I tend to clean and clear, so by the time I get around to it, I’m exhausted. Plus our house is going through a diy renovation with hard wood flooring on the entire main level and things keep shifting into my home office, but never out of it.

The kitchen is the most difficult room to keep uncluttered in our home. It’s centrally located, so we pass through it constantly, and everything gets dropped on the big island counter, on its way to where it belongs.

Our kitchen, more specifically the kitchen island. That large expanse of open (or should be open) space seems to call for clutter. No matter how often I clean it it’s cluttered again within hours sometimes even minutes! It drive me nuts!

The dining room – specifically the dining room table. We have a small house and the living room/dining room is just one area. The dining room table feel like a “landing pad” for everything – mail, contents of school back packs or any “stuff” that doesn’t have a home! Urgh

My kitchen counter is tough to keep clean. On top of food prepping it doubles for crafting and school books. I can remember my mom yellibg at us kids not to leave our backpacks in the kitchen. I get it now Mom.

It’s a toss up between the computer room and the kitchen. The kitchen becomes a dumping ground, plus it’s right next to the door to the basement so I’ll pile things up that need to go downstairs. The computer room gets homework messes and my own research messes, plus clean laundry often finds its way to the daybed in there.

It’s parts of 2 rooms – the office and the kitchen. And it’s 2 particular surfaces – the desk tops in both those rooms. I put off looking at papers till “later” and soon it becomes Mt Everest! Looking forward to trying these steps! Thanks for the giveaway!!

Oh my goodness….I didn’t even think of my purse being a “hotspot!” (but it is!) The worst place to keep clean in this house is the study (office) especially with it being tax season. yuck! Would love any gift card!

my kitchen is very difficult to keep clutter free. i am the only woman in the house – husband and two son’s – and i have to constantly clean the kitchen because they are always in there eating and making a mess. the worst time is first thing in the morning! they stay up late into the night watching tv and eating and the kithen always looks like a party was going on overnight! i need two dishwashers just in order to keep up! LOL

My Dining Room is the hardest hit in our house! The Dining Room table is everyone’s first choice, unless I am cutting a fabric project then it’s the Buffet. Thanks Melissa for hosting this Give Away!! The post is surely worth a try!!

In the past I would have said the office was my worst clutter spot, but I think the kitchen really reigns supreme these days. I have one long counter that seems to CALL to the clutter. It doesn’t matter how often I clean it off, the next time I walk through there, something else has landed. {sigh}

Like many others have said, it has to be the home office–particularly the desk. It seems I just complete a pile of papers when another one arrives. It also collects books in progress, letters that need to be mailed, reminder notes, greeting cards, to-do lists, tax information…you name it! A few lovely containers would be very helpful….

We have a very small home with a livingroom, kitchen and powder-room on the first floor — all small rooms. I literally LIVE in my kitchen, and I’m okay with that. But — it is the kitchen, it is my office, it is our family HUB, it is a craft-station, and everything seems to LAND HERE. I have to clean stuff off the kitchen table each night to serve dinner. I’m not THAT disorganized. It just seems like there aren’t enough places to put things — and yes, we are a typical family of 4 w/ TOO MANY THINGS. =/

Definitely the master bedroom. It’s the drop spot for everything and everyone. I think it’s because it’s the one room of the house that I know no one will just wander in if they come to visit. Sometimes I wonder if I’m trying to audition for a spot on Hoarders!

The kitchen for sure. It can be perfectly clean with gleaming countertops (getting it this way takes 20-30 minutes), then everyone converges on the countertops with their keys, coats, mail, homework, and shoes (yes shoes – my family puts shoes on my kitchen island)!

Hands down, the kitchen. The counters are cluttered with mail, school work, purse, keys, phones, etc…oh, and not to mention the things that actually belong in the kitchen and just haven’t been put away.

The hardest room for me is the utility room. It has a chest freezer and a dryer and a shelving unit and it just seems to be a magnet for things that need action taken. Things that need fixed, half done projects, etc…it is a very frustrating layout and the clutter makes it stressful to do laundry or find shoes.

My hot spot is my desk in the den. When I am in a hurry, everything gets plopped there.mmeven though I have file folders, files, etc. everything becomes a pile. Instead of 5 hotspots, I thing I am going to focus on this one, it’s a biggie, and it’s been a albatross around my neck for years! Thanks for this post, and the giveaway!

My craft room (AKA my “stitching room”) is the most difficult room to keep clean and clutter free. Not so much clean, per se, but definitely clutter free. When I get on a “tear” with finishing a project, or trying a new technique, I rifle through my closet, storage, drawers (anywhere, really!), looking for the perfect fabric or finishing materials, and the room ends up looking like a bomb hit it.

It’s in such a state right now, as a matter of fact!

Thanks for giving us the opportunity for this wonderful giveaway – I’m addicted to both Target and the Container Store!

My kitchen is definitely the most difficult to keep uncluttered. My kitchen is visible from my front door (honestly, who designs that?) and is our cooking, eating, and hanging out spot. And not to mention the occasional lab (for science fair projects), office (for bill paying), and salon (for my boys’ haircuts)! I feel like it is my joy and nemesis at the same time:) Thank you for the opportunity…I think I need a hundred storage containers!

My kitchen island is my mini office and where the laptops, cellphones, mail, school papers etc. land when we come in the house. I am sure that I clear it off several times a day. My laundry room is the other place where things end up when there is no other place for them. I feel like I am always editing and reorganizing to make sure that everything has a place. I have no problem going through the house with a bag and filling it with donations for the Goodwill…I’m pretty ruthless! If I could get the grandparents to stop buying so much for the kids that would help greatly!!!!
Thanks for the lovely give-away!

Our kitchen, hands down, is the hardest room in our house to keep clutter free. It is clean, but it is used ALL.day.long! We are homeschoolers with four children at home. Somedays I feel as if I never get out of there!

And by the way, I have never commented on your site, but I love your blog! I have followed you for a couple of years and refer to your advice often.

Thanks for the opportunity! Target and The Container Store always have something I like, want or need!

My clutter hotspot is my bedroom! I live by myself and have people over often, but they know they are not allowed in my bedroom. haha Because of this, it gives me a license to throw clothes everywhere! If I win the gift card, I will use it find a way to declutter my closet so my clothes and shoes will fit again!

I’ve actually figured out all the areas that are really bad. But our bedroom still seems to be a problem. My nightstand gets cluttered every night, and when we wake up I just feel like a bomb has gone off. I decided to have less stuff on the clear surfaces so our master feels more relaxing, but it just tends to be an empty place to put whatever we have in our hands. I need some help for sure with that room.

The most difficult spot has got to be the den, with it’s giant sectional sofa and coffee table that attracts glasses, food, socks, and other yuck. After a weekend, it looks like a frat party happened in there. And it smells. I need a storage ottoman and some Glade plug-in’s to start…thanks for the great giveaway!

The most difficult area of our home to keep clean and free from clutter is definitely the kitchen! Its the first room you walk into through the back door and where everything is dropped. I would LOVE to win the giftcards!

I have a built-in desk in my kitchen, and it’s like a dumping ground for mail, magazines, catalogs, kids’ papers, etc. I’ve made great strides in keeping it organized with magazine holders & file holders from the Container Store, but it still needs a once-weekly overhaul.

Our little dining nook between the kitchen and the living room is definitely our clutter hotspot. With my husband and me both working full-time and being in grad school, the dining room table is more often used for papers, books, bills, and mail instead of eating. The little bench in the dining area becomes a pile of purses, jackets, lunch bags, and more books. With little storage space in our condo, a Target gift card would go a long way towards more efficient organization. :o)

Our Family Room because we are in a challenging “season”…our son, daughter-in-law and their two children (ages 2 and 3 months) are temporarily living with us and WOW, you can’t believe the clutter that came with them. Yes, pray for me ~smile~

I’m struggling to get organized in my whole house as I just moved into my first home just before Christmas. The one spot that seems to be an ongoing area is my sunroom as it has the main entrance door and the garage door. I’d love to win the gift cards to help set up and organize that area!

The kitchen counter! We even have a mudroom right when we come in the house from the garage but it seems that there is always homework, or school papers, or the newspaper, or food, or something that is on the counter. A clean counter makes me calm. A cluttered counter makes me a wee bit agitated.

It’s really a toss-up between our dining room and our office. Things like newspaper and mail tend to get dumped on our dining room table and left for a few days. Then, when that table gets cleaned things make it to our office and get stuck there. It’s a vicious cycle!

The hardest room for me to keep clean and organized is my mud room – ugh! It’s super small and doesn’t have a good “system” – 2 adults and 4 kids worth of shoes – it’s totally horrible in the winter! Love these easy ideas!!

I think the hardest to keep clutter free is my office but the hardest to keep clean is the kitchen. That may not make sense but the office is usually clean, just will get cluttered on the desk top but with three boys in the house the kitchen is always in full service and it is hard to keep clean!

Our living room is the most challenging to keep organized. More specifically, our coffee table! I swear the second I clear it off, it’s piled again with toys, mail, dirty dishes, etc. Our living room is also the “play room” for our little one, so now we have the added challenge of keeping our things organized and all the accessories for our 4 month old :)

The dining room! The only reason the kitchen counter is clean because it all gets moved to the dining room table. I truly need to figure out a way to manage all the school papers. My oldest is only in K so I have a long road ahead of me!

the “study” (SMALL room off the kitchen) where we keep the computer, extra freezer and a catch all for everything. When I clean the house, every pile to deal with later ends up there. It’s so cluttered I need to use the kitchen table to do my work :(.

Wow.. Just one room? We have 4 children and I homeschool, so we are always home. It seems that every room gets cluttered and hard to keep clean. I would have to say Kitchen because we have all our homeschool stuff in there. That is where we eat 3 meals plus snacks, do all the school work, play things like playdoh, puzzles. Me and my sewing machinge i am trying to learn how to work. You name it.

My living room. We ‘live’ in their and so does all of our clutter. Even though it would probably take only 10 minutes to de-clutter it, the overwhelming truth that in a day it will be cluttered again keeps me from taking advantage of my next 10 minutes to do it.

My Kitchen is the 1st place I come in to when I come home so all of the mail, receipts, magazines and other items usually end up on the countertops. I need to make an area where I can place everything other than the countertops – I end up not having room for anything else besides the clutter!

My Closet!! becuase my weight is like a yo yo, I have so much clothes and different sizes. I always keep the bigger stuff in there for a “bad day” and when I start to shrink, I get the smaller out… but it just ends up on the floor and a mess! Every day I dread going into my closet to get dressed becuase it is a mess! it needs help and I need direction on how to fix it……

I have a hard time keeping my kitchen counters/table clear of clutter. It’s the catch-all place for school papers, mail, etc. I try to clear it off every night before I go to bed, though that doesn’t always happen.

My daughters’ room. My two girls share a room with one closet and one dresser. It is difficult to keep up with the clothes, the toys, the little things that are oh so special to them. I have my fingers crossed for this!

My kitchen is the worst spot because it is where everyone walks into the house and sets their stuff on the kitchen island. The next worst offender would be my office. I really enjoyed this post and I am going to start working on some hot spots today.

Definitely the kitchen counters! I can’t seem to find a good way to keep organized all the stuff (mail, kids’ important papers, bills, etc) that comes into the house each day.
Also I would like to be able to have fewer objects and appliances on my counters so my kitchen would look “neater”. It really stresses me out when things are messy & cluttered but I’m no good at setting up a good organization system!

My bedroom! I have lots of clothes and not enough closet space, so putting clothes away is a struggle. I end up throwing them onto my armchair (the pile is now mammoth) or hanging them on my over-the-door hooks. My nightstands are always cluttered with cups, books, glasses, earrings, etc.

Definitely our bedroom. With three kids 5 and under, it has turned into laundry central, naptime headquarters, and dressing room for all. It only takes one day of doing laundry to un-do all progress I feel like I’d made only a day before!

I have been working at decluttering the house for a week now, so this came at just the right time!!! I would say the most difficult room to keep clean would be the kitchen. Our kitchen is VERY tiny, so even a little mess (and it’s rarely little, but anyway….) makes the kitchen look awful.

Melissa, this is a great idea. Breaking these tasks into bite-sized pieces is doable for me at the end of a long and tiring day. Thanks for including my pocket book as a part of this process. It gets so full of junk by the end of the week that I can’t find anything.

My dining room table. I have a beautiful solid wood hand made farm table. The table becomes the dumping ground for schoolwork that needs to be filed and leftover books and supplies from the day’s homeschool. It becomes a place where laundry waits to be put away. It’s so beautiful when it’s bare.

Our foyer is probably the worst. Thats where we dump things when we come in, the mail, coats, shoes, things that have no home. Though my office is pretty bad too, I just see it less. Actually, I tend to scoop up stuff from the foyer and dump it there, so its sort of all part of the same problem.

My kitchen counters are the worse. The kids do their homework there, all there various school papers land there as well as the mail and of course if you don’t know where it goes…stick it on the counter…mom will take care of it.

Our kitchen is the most difficult to keep clutter free. When you enter our home it is from the garage into a long hallway with a coat closet. there is no place to put anything down so it all winds up in the kitchen since that is the first room you enter.

I have to say the most cluttered part of my house that drives me nuts is the dining room table. It has long been a dumping ground for ALL things besides what should be there…plates, cups, silverware. We have to clean off the table before we sit down and eat and most of the time it’s just scoop everything up and put in on the kitchen island which is right beside the table. So, second in line would be the kitchen island. We are a family of 5 with 2 dogs and a cat, so it certainly is difficult.

The o’hana room! (That’s family room to those of you not from Hawaii.) I work from home and the room doubles as the playroom as well as my office. I don’t mind picking up the toys, however my one-year-old has figured out how to open the desk drawers, pull out the contents and toss them everywhere! I’ve tried all the child-proof stick em’s and even packaging tape, but he’s a clever guy and gets around it all. I don’t want to drill into the desk, and have piled furniture up around it. As a result – papers are stuffed in the drawers or stacked on top and it has become unorganized chaos!

I stuggle with our bedroom, it ends up being where all the laundry is piled and by the time I have cleaned the rest of the house I don’t feel like tackling it! I shouldn’t save it for last but I would rather have the main living areas clean, so they always get done first.

My laundry room! I’ve managed to conquer the clutter in every room in the house except for this one. It’s where I “temporarily” stash all the stuff I don’t have a home for, like random tools, broken things, and clothes that belong to other people’s kids.

Believe it our not, it is our bedroom, not that it is totally out of control, it is just so easy to dump something in there, thus, out of sight out of mine, then at the end of the night, there it all is………so…….if I win the giveaway closet organization here I come!!!!! And a welcoming good nights sleep.

We have a 2yr old…she has a TON of pink toys that are consistently making their way out of her lovely pink bedroom and into the remainder of our tiny apartment- I would LOVE suggestions for organization in her bedroom; that don’t include the color pink. the end.

Ugh – I am going to have to go with my tiny kitchen. With an almost-toddler at home and no dishwasher it is always cluttered with dishes, papers (mainly recipes)and other assorted stuff my husband sets down on his way through. It is also the only room in our house that has carpet which makes it feel in need of cleaning most of the time.

sometimes i feel like it”s my whole house!! but thinking this way really defined the worst areas for me & i noticed that the rest are spawned from there! i strugged with CHAOS….Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome!! :)

For me, it’s always our FRONT FOYER and it’s anyone’s 1st impression of our home! It’s amazing what ends up there! Shoes, backpacks, boots, hats, mittens but not to mention all the random things I find just “dropped” there! It’s literally a “drop zone!” ugh. My nightmare is when I get unexpected company that have to manuever through our pile of shoes or mess as they enter our otherwise organized and clean home!

I live with adult children and a grandson, very difficult to keep the kitchen table, dining room table and living room sitting areas clean, also, my boyfriend is a serious hoarder of things, the outside of my house looks like a dump and it is so embarrassing, he gets very angry when I try to get him to clean it up, not sure what to do about that, I do use your strategies on the tables and LR, I just get so tired of doing it and not having cooperation in the matter. But great article it is, I feel the same as you!

I struggle with the kitchen – how do I keep the mail, papers and this and that from piling up?? I don’t know where to put the “stuff”. If I put it away in another room – I forget about it and miss out on things. Help!
Of course, if my office/craft room was organized, THAT would be the perfect place for all the papers, etc! As it is, I don’t really like to go into that room because all the counter space is piled high with (wait for it…) PAPERS!!!

Ugh. The kitchen counter. I keep papers that I need to tend to within the next day or so laid out in this one part of the counter, and I understand it but it makes my awesome, totally amazingly organized and tidy husband CRAZY!!!!!!!!!

My most difficult room to keep clutter free is the kitchen. We have a long island and it has become my dumping ground. When the kids get home from school, we go through their backpacks and the school papers end up in a pile. When I come home, the island is the first place things are placed. Everything ends up on the island.

The loft! It’s right outside the laundry room and our bedroom which means it is a staging area for clean (unfolded) laundry, things I need to take downstairs, things that somehow never make it to the bedroom, etc.

My kitchen is so hard to keep clean since it is the place everyone walks into and dumps everything. Backpacks, papers, mail and lunch boxes seem to clutter the area the most. I need all the help I can to get organized. Great giveaway!

It’s gotta be the kitchen counters! They are a magnet for junk mail, keys, pencils, pads, and just STUFF! We spend most of our time in the kitchen and so does the clutter! Those are inspiring tips, though. I’m tackling those counters tonight!

It’s always my kitchen counters, conveniently located so that everything lands on them. They’re not exciting counters in and of themselves, just boring old laminate–but when it’s a clean expanse of boring counter, the whole house feels better.

The clutter hotspot that bothers me the most is my desk in the kitchen. We keep the kitchen counters clear, but things most often just get piled on the desk instead. School papers, newspapers, stuff to go to the garage or basement, random art supplies…

Without a doubt, the laundry room. Our living room is a dumping ground for the kids, because it’s the first room past the foyer, but there are no doors on it, so it’s picked up frequently. The laundry room on the other hand, is usually a disaster. People tend to open the doors, fling random things in there and quickly shut the doors. Thanks for hosting this generous giveaway!

My worst clutter spot is my office. There are so many papers, books, cds, etc that I just don’t know what to do with them all. It also seems to be the dumping ground for all the items I don’t know what else to do with them. HELP!

With 2 little ones and a mom who likes to cook, the kitchen is the hub of our house and therefore, the hardest room to keep clean. I feel like we’re always sorting piles of mail, piles of dishes, etc. Thanks for the awesome giveaway!!

My bedroom is exploding with teetering towers of books and papers. Mail, magazine clippings, polaroids, strips of watercolor paper, receipts, clothing tags, and post-its protrude from under precariously stacked magazines, journals, catalogs, brochures, galleys, novels and comic books. To say that I must tiptoe around my room for fear of these monstrous clutter collections tumbling down is not an understatement. Can organization save the things that inspire me so I don’t have to just black bag everything??

Do I really have to pick only one?! There are so many. :( I have to say that my kitchen island is the most challenging hot spot since it is a drop-all area for everyone and everything and the first place you come to up the stairs. Looking forward to my 5 daily habits. Your post has challenged me. I do work FT so I may reduce to 3 daily habits and start from there. As long as I have an attainable goal and achieve success, only up from there. Thank you.

It’s my kitchen! I’m going to apply all 5 spots to my kitchen and morning room — 1 big open space that’s the most heart of our home. I’ve printed out your plan and will tape it to my fridge. Thanks so much for coming up with this for us. You’re a Peach!

The room that seems to get the most clutter or where we end up “just putting” stuff is the spare room or office where we have our computer. It is the place where our bookcase is and a sofa sleeper and where our “gift” closet is located. Things just happen to get put there and sometimes forgotten about.

We live in a very small duplex and I have a toddler, so can I just say everywhere? *L* The worst offender probably is the coffee table or the kitchen table. It seems that no matter WHAT I do or how often I do it, they seem to be constantly covered in something.

My most difficult area is the long bar in our back den that is the first place to DUMP things when you come in the back door. My calendar ” center” is there, and while I try to keep it organized the area is always full of junk! WhY do I do that!! Hoping your new plan will help!

For me, it’s hard to choose! But, I’d say the one room that drives me crazy is our schoolroom/craft room. Right now, it’s in the front entry room of our house, because that was the only place to put it. So, it’s the first thing people see when they walk in the door. It’s put together with mismatched bookshelves we’ve gotten free or cheap, and there are so many books and craft supplies. I try to go through it all often, but I just can’t seem to get it where it’s a pleasant room for me to be in. :) It just seems “thrown together.” I homeschooled for eight years, but my oldest girls went to school this year for the first time. I still have my youngest son at home, so we still need most of the stuff. But, the girls come home from school and drop off their backpacks. Oh, did I mention it’s also our mudroom? Our shoes and coats are all in there. It’s a sore spot for me. :)

I would have to say that our kitchen is the most cluttered area in the house as is becomes homework central for two teens (eating the whole time) and my 5th grader. This introduces three back packs whose contents are routinely disgorged covering the counters and floors. Add the regular charging of electronic devices, collection of keys, tissue boxes, lunch boxes, bills, telephone, and a laptop and it is disastrous. Now make dinner :-) I love the sense of connectivity and community, but it needs to be tamed! (Don’t even mention the upstairs on going laundry saga…..)

I will be honest. With six children (all girls!), I can not imagine my house EVER being completely “clutter free”. I try my best to maintain something that resembles less than utter chaos! My most difficult room to keep clean and clutter free is my bedroom, unfortunately. All the mess from the rest of the house gravitates to our bedroom to hide behind closed doors. My biggest dream is to be able to actually WALK again in my walk-in closet, a craft area that is ONLY for me and a clean and inspiring sanctuary for my husband and I.

My hotspot is the kitchen. It has alot of counter space and surface space. Which for my husband who was raised in a house that almost never had an empty surface space. of course it didn’t mean it was dirty it was just never clear of clutter. I however came from a home where everyhting had a place and it was never on the counters. Needless to say I can almost never keep the counters and kitchen table free from clutter. Sometimes it seems easier to fall into laziness than fight the everyday battle. I thought this was a never ending battle but what I am finding is that my whole family not just myself feel the effects of a this cluttered room. Which is why your post inspired me so much. I am ready to tackle and defeat with a 5 new habits and hot spots and believe me it does extend further than the kitchen. We won’t even talk about the laundry room thank you for the inspiration.

The absolute worst area is my husband’s office – you can hardly open the door and he is so unable to throw anything away so the entire room is filled with things he never uses so that the desk has literally not been used for a couple of years. Instead he uses the desk downstairs which is regularly covered with ‘stuff’. I know all of the clutter is difficult for him to deal with but not as difficult as it is for him to clear out the clutter. I’m not sure what plan would help since when I try to help it does not work unless he is not at home!

My kitchen table seems to be a magnet for the entire family to drop the mail, the newspapers, the backpacks, the homework, a stack of books, lunchbox, anything and everything. It makes me crazy and I am so afraid we will lose important mail or papers. I have tried lots of different systems, but the table is STILL where it ends up. UGH!

I am a firm believer that if you ignore most things long enough, they just go away. So most things I want to ignore I put in my bedroom (this only sometimes includes my husband). A stack of papers on my bedside table…uugghh…. It never goes away….

I have a whole house issue. you walk in through the front door and you see the kitchen and living room. Go in to either place and you see th edinning room. an Open L shape of the three spaces. I need to get rid of stuff to make it all fit. This is our down sized home, more stuff to find another home for. It my not be in this home…

My kitchen is IMPOSSIBLE! I honestly run my dishwasher three times a day and the sink is still overflowing with dishes at all times. The kitchen table is a dumping ground for all the random junk I didn’t even know we owned, and the floor is in constant need of a sweep and mop. Needless to say, this is also the space where everyone tends to congregate when they come over, so it’s the most visible mess in the house!

Haha, yes I would echo every word you said! We started only keeping one mug, bowl, and plate out for each member of the family and putting the rest away (my mom used to use coloured tupperware for each person)…that way instead of grabbing another bowl for soup you HAVE TO wash your cereal bowl from this morning! It’s a thought, it seems to help a bit!

Sad to say my toughest room to keep organized is my bedroom and it really stresses me out sometimes. I feel it should be the most important room to organize and create a sense of peace and yet because it’s a room most people don’t see it’s easy for me to stash stuff in there quickly and then it ends up staying there!

I find my kitchen pantry to be the most difficult area to keep clean and organized. It’s so frustrating to not be able to find what I’m looking for when I need it and yet it’s so easy to close the door and not do anything about it! I try my best to do a weekly pantry clean out to make sure I know what I have. It helps avoid wasting food and makes me a better meal planner. :)

The kitchen! It is the first room you come into when you enter the house. The table gets filled, bookbags and purses get hung on the backs of chairs, and the island counter gets buried. It is not uncommon to have to clear the table to eat dinner, or even to cook dinner! I keep working at it, but my husband likes to put piles — and post it notes — on the end of the counter to remind him of things. We need to find a better system!

It used to be my kitchen counter. Then we moved to a different house and I was able to designate a room “the office.” Now it is so easy to put things on my desk and the shelves in the office! My kitchen counters have become clutter-free but don’t look in the office! :)

My bedroom! It has a lot of light so I spend most of my time in there sewing, painting, doing DIY stuff… The problem with being crafty is that that whichever room you use seems to explode with clutter. I’ve got acrylic paints, canvases, my sewing machine, fabric, my drill and tool box, etc. all piled on one table! Add to that one big hyper dog who not only chews everything in sight, but is also a total klutz (and likes to deposit her hair everywhere) and you have one messy room!

I was going to say my kitchen because my counters seem to be a catchall for everything! (Plus, I HATE doing dishes!) BUT, I think I’ll have to say my bathroom. I leave stuff out on the counter all the time…not to mention I shed like crazy!! My long dark hair ends up everywhere. I know it’s gross but it’s so hard to keep up with…I hate it!

Definitely the bathroom. It’s organized-ish but very small and I really don’t even notice til I come home at the end of the day (because my husband and I are flying out the door in such a hurry!)that you can’t even see the counter (literally!) and the bathmat is on the floor with the hair dryer…its one of my goals for this year!!

Definitely my bedroom! I tend to use it to keep the ‘other’ rooms clutter free, then find myself every couple of weeks losing my mind over things piling up in there. And the irony is I know how important having an uncluttered bedroom is to getting restful sleep and being stressfree in general – definitely my number one inside hotspot!

The most difficult room in my house to keep clean is my kitchen. First, of course, there are the dishes… then the pantry… the fridge… the counters… and instead of a table because our house is so small I have a work table with my computer on it in my kitchen and shelves and filing cabinets !!! We eat in the dining room adjacent to the kitchen. So, the counters and sink are always full of dishes drying or waiting to be washed… or they have food on them thawing or something I am in the middle of baking or cooking… and the fridge and pantry closet always need “weeding out”… and the computer area is the dumping ground for all school papers… the mail… anything that needs to be typed or filed… what a huge mess !!! Help !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My biggest spots are the kitchen island, my office (the whole space – desk, floor, chair!!) My laundry closet shelf (the area over the washer and dryer that is supposed to be for folding clothes!) and My bedroom. Spring cleaning has started – maybe they will be vanquished this year!

It used to be our island, but now that we’re in a rental, it’s the (very tiny)kitchen counter. I’m forever dripping sauce or squeezing lemon juice onto the junk mail/important mail/homework/grocery lists that collect there!

That would be my bathroom- drawers to be specific. My 1 year old finds all sorts of perfect bottles and tubes that fit perfectly into his little hands. He methodically whips them out as fast as he can. ;-) Love that little man.

thanks for the inspiration! I love the focus steps you provided. Makes it so much easier when a overwhelming task is broken down into small steps. ONe big area of clutter is our shoe bench. Nice size storage for shoes, though instead of IN the shoe bench, they are all on the floor IN FRONT of the bench. The other BIG clutter spot is my kitchen table. Everything ends up there. My sweet family does not seem to understand that the little cleaning fairy does not stop at our house. Sure wish she did!!

Ohhh, pick one area that is most cluttered and needs attention daily?? My kitchen island! I dump my mail, recipets, newspaper, all kinds of junk.
Starting today…I will try to keep it clear and clean! Looks so nice when it is cleared off! Thanks for motivation!

The worst place for clutter in our house is the counter between the kitchen and the living room. The mail automatically gets stacked there along with keys,change,receipts, and anything else related to emptying your pockets. I’ve tried organized baskets but they were quickly ignored. I must prevail and try something new.

The most difficult room in our house to keep clean and clutter free is the master bedroom. There’s nothing master like about this room. It’s become the toy and laundry dumping ground. I definitely need to get this under control.

The office. It is mostly used by my husband, so I don’t want to move things around/throw things out without him being there. I think it needs files/totes etc so that at least same goes with same. It depresses me every time I look into it though. Sometimes we have to use it for guests and then I move into panic mode and end up throwing everything into a box and hiding it in the closet :-) Not the solution, I know!

Thanks for all the tips. I intend to start using them. As far as what room is the messiest? My kitchen! Everyone uses the back door, so everything gets dropped on the kitchen counters or even the stove top. It’s not that big a kitchen!

The kitchen! Between junk mail on the counter, clean dishes that need to be put up, and the kitchen table currently serving as a gift wrap station for spring baby showers and birthday parties, it’s a wonder I ever cook!

It would be my desk area in the kitchen. Clutter drives me crazy too and adds to my overall stress. I’ve learned I can live with dust better than I can live with clutter. The best decluttering tip I ever heard is to go around your house with a basket picking up all of the clutter. Voila! The house will look so much better, and you can put away the things in the basket at your convenience. With 5 children, this has been a sanity saver.

My car is a HUGE junk magnet. Whenever we don’t know what to do with something, we stuff it in the glove compartment/door pocket/trunk…it drives me crazy, and I get embarrassed whenever we give people rides, or when the bag-boy at the grocery store carries out the groceries!

My ” office ” ( spare bedroom ). It has become the “dumping ground” for any and everything that has no home! I don’t even know where to begin!!! It was supposed to be my little sanctuary, for creative projects, but is a jumbled mess. I have to close the door when we have company! So embarassing :/

the bar is the kitchen/dining area is most certainly our clutter spot. its close to the front door and its where all mail, keys, newspaper, and other random junk are put. sometimes i have a hard time cleaning it because i dont even know where some of that stuff goes!

The most difficult room in the house is definitely our office/gaming room. My husband creates piles of papers and doesn’t sort them. My side is tidy, his a mess. Started an “in box” for him, now it’s 2 feet high.

First of all thanks so much for the tips! They will come in handy this spring when we start our spring cleaning!!
The most difficult room to organize and keep clean is the living room! We spend most of the day in the living room and we have laminate flooring so I have to sweep at least once a day, sometimes 3 or more because the kids ALWAYS make a mess and there are ALWAYS toys everywhere!

My ” office ” ( spare bedroom ). It has become the “dumping ground” for any and everything that has no home! I don’t even know where to begin!!! It was supposed to be my little sanctuary, for creative projects, but is a jumbled mess. I have to close the door when we have company.

My kitchen!!! It is the biggest dumping ground for my husband! He walks in and just drops everything. To the point where remodeling to add a mudroom with doors so I can through all his crapola in there and shut it! :)

Definitely my laundry room! I have two teenage girls who never seem to remember that they have laundry in the washer and/or dryer, which then gets wrinkled and they have to wash over again (vicious cycle). Not to mention the hundreds of pairs of unmatched socks. I’m forever griping at them about this room. I am inspired by your blog, you have such great ideas. Thank you!

Daughter’s playroom!! I’m pretty good about picking up small messes before they make big ones but that is one room I try to stay clear of ;) and she hasn’t formed the habit of picking up when she’s done playing. Still working on that one!
My 30th bday is March 22, what a great gift winning this giveaway could be :)

The kitchen counter is so hard to keep clean!!! It becomes a dumping ground for bags, school work, bills, broken toys, and a million other things. Would love a organized spot by the garage to put up bags, shoes, etc. Love your blog!

My living room. We have a separate playroom upstairs that I thought would be amazing when we bought our house, but my 4 year old just drags the toys downstairs to the living room. Every day it’s like a Lego bomb exploded in there!

Our kitchen table and island! Ugh! It’s where we do almost everything and where everything gets dumped off. Homework, mail, dirty dishes from snacks, etc. We really need to work on it. Thanks for the reminder, and for the chance to win!

Definitely my kitchen counters: that is where recycling gets dumped instead of in the bin, or the junk someone needs to take to the basement, or the mail, or groceries someone doesn’t bother to put away, or or or…it drives me nuts! And I think I am the only one it bothers!

right as you step into our apt. shoes are put there cause we don’t wear any inside and backpacks, etc. also end up there. trying to figure out what to do since we can’t mess up the walls by making any large holes in them…

And the winner is the Kitchen…My kitchen space issue, has now turned into a clutter issue, everything is butsting at the seams…dishes, tufferware, cleaning products, pantry items, there’s mail and key and rugs…It’s a true clutter magnet, because cook the food and they will come!

My kitchen is the family dumping ground for daily papers,pocket clutter,keys & water glasses galore( for some reason my kids cant use the same glass for the entire day, errrr!) I like the idea to start with just 4 areas…seems completly “do-able”! Thank you for a clutter free week ahead!

My craft room ! Im usually working on more than one project and tend to let things get stacked up around me…and before you know it I’ve got a cluttered mess ! Of course I know where everything is, but it sure doesnt look pretty !

My computer room. I still have boxes filled with crap sitting on the floor that have been there since I moved in . . . a year ago. I just can’t (or won’t) find the time to find all that stuff a home since I don’t spend a lot of time in the room.

Our dining room is the most difficult. It’s right inside the door from our garage, and since my husband owns a small business, it has become a work space for him. The table and sideboard are both covered with papers that he needs to keep track of. Since he’s an “out of sight, out of mind” person who also won’t write anything down because he can’t keep track of notes, I struggle with helping him find ways to organize the stuff. If I put something in a filing system, it’s like I’ve thrown it away. Biggest problem – the dining room is open to the living room (L-shape), so no matter how tidy I keep the living room, it looks like the entire house is a mess. Second biggest problem – no other available room in the house to use as his work space.

My kitchen island is a mess regularly – my kitchen is original 1925 (drainboard sink/shallow cupboards/etc) and NO DISHWASHER – so I have to pile everything on my island until I do the dishes it is a mess…it is also the place I put my mail to sort and magazines and newspapers that I read while having a cup of tea. I love it when it is cleaned up and I am certainly frazzled when it is discombobulated.

I’m doing better than this than ever before. I think it helps to move to a new home and begin new habits. BUT, why is it that the breakfast table always seems to be the place that collects whoknowswhats? I’ve got to figure out the ‘why’ so we can break the habit.

My most cluttered room is my home office. I work outside of the home,so when I come home, last thing I want is to spend more time at another office, so my mail and magazines and lots of receipts get tossed into many piles in my office and I definitely do not have enough proper storage for all that stuff.

My open floor plan makes it very difficult to keep my kitchen clean, since my kitchen is basically IN the living room! Wouldn’t it be nice if new home builders would design all of us the perfect “sitcom” kitchen…you know the one that has the swinging door, but is open to the living room with a “window” if you so choose to look at your family!?! BUT with that said, I would have to say my mudroom is THE WORST CULPRIT. Its disgusting. nothing else to say about that. Thanks!

I love the tips! And the timing is perfect for me as I am working to get our home back in order before the busy spring/summer season. My challenge is paper…I hate paper and it seems to hate me. (lol) But the bigger challenge is my husband’s fix-it projects that have taken over our dining room. He’s one of those that fixes anything and everything…a gift that has gotten out of control a little and I am hoping be able to help him get organized so the prize would really go a long way in helping me do that.

The Dining room. I have a huge Dining room table when you first walk in the door and everything tends to end up there. Mail accumulates, things brought in from outside. It all starts out so innocently and becomes a monster that you want to ignore in no time!

My Living Room/Kitchen since I live in an apartment they are pretty much connected and its almot impossible to keep it organized or decluttered. And considering I have a limited cabinet space in the kitchen most things get put in a corner of the living till we can find room.

Definitely my basement…it seems everytime I clear clutter from the main floor (which is often, b/c clutter drives me crazy), I dump it down there until I can deal with it. Then I go on a basement purging binge, but a month later there is more clutter down there. I still don’t know where it all comes from, b/c I’m so careful about not bringing stuff into the house! Maybe it has something to do with the 3 small children…

My home is my haven, and yes I totally agree! Helpful article, constant battle getting organized and the gift cards would help so much! I already know exactly what I’d want to do with them, thanks for the opportunity!

Our master bedroom is definitely the most cluttered! We run a home-based business so our room doubles as an office, and since “no one ever sees our room anyway” it’s always the last on my cleaning priority list..

My most difficult room is the children’s bathroom … I have three who share a small space and the counter gets filled with tooth brushes and hair brushes and tooth paste splotches. The mirror gets sprayed, the tub has multiple toys. It’s a bit chaotic!

Our bonus room! This ~500sf room serves as my office for my graphic design and photography business, portrait studio for said business, media room, home school room, library, guest room, play room, laundry room and also is home to my husband and kids’ computers as well. 3/23 is my husband’s birthday and what a gift it would be if I could tell him I won this amazing giveaway!! <3

We enter our home from the back door through the kitchen. Therefore, the kitchen table and counters(which you run into first) are almost always covered with mail, bags, groceries, and random STUFF that we don’t know what to do with. I could really use a better system! The Container Store and Target are my “happy place” and I would love to win a shopping spree!

My bedside table !! YIKES! My BF and I love to eat snacks in bed and watch tv that plus all the remotes, laptops and chargers leaves my nightstand a disaster I carry cans and food to the kitchen daily and hide electronics only to have them all reappear hours later ….. Is there such thing as a hida-table?? Cause I would for sure invest in that !

Our worst area is either the kitchen or right outside the back door. Those seem to be the places where everything (backpacks, sports equipment, etc. gets dumped on the way in or out the door. Amazingly enough, my husband is the one who CONSISTENTLY takes his stuff straight to our room when he gets home!

My Kitchen, everyone is our family enters our home through the kitchen. So, we have shoes, purses, backpacks, snow pants, mittens, hats, keys, school books, grocery bags, coats, mail and anything else that has no real place …

For us, our master bedroom proves to be the dumping ground for all of our clutter. It tends to collect all of the projects, items to go to the attic, problems that need fixing, and paperwork (since our computer is on our bedroom).

The kitchen. 3/5 of my hotspots were in the kitchen. The island, the desk, and the kitchen table. We have 4 boys, and everynight at dinner one of them has to move a pile to the floor to set their place. I often eat next to a stack of JUNK.

Our kitchen. Clean? Not a problem. Clutter free? Problem! First room in the house as you enter so it is the dumping ground for keys, mail, papers and anything that needs to be set down. We also end up with piles of homeschool books and supplies, laptop and papers. {sigh} There has to be a solution! :)

The room that is hardest to keep clutter free is currently the dining room. It presently serves as a wrapping station, craft room and office. In fact, we use it for everything BUT eating in and it drives me crazy. :/

The most difficult room for me is the kitchen. It’s everyone’s drop off point and I have to work hard to keep the clutter out. School books, car keys, mail, work stuff all try to gain an entrance into the hub of our home.

My kitchen! With 6 children, we get a daily pile up of homework papers, after school snacks and breakfast dishes! I clean my kitchen several times a day in order to keep it tidy. And there is rarely a day where I don’t do two loads of dishes. I remarked this morning to my husband, after a particularly busy day yesterday, how quickly the house gets messy if I’m not on top of it every second. *sigh* But I’m pretty sure the Container Store could provide a few solutions for organizing some of the hot spots in my kitchen, heh?

I have a heck of a time keeping our kitchen/eat-in dining area un-cluttered. The table always ends up full of receipts, mail, purses, coats, and other junk because it’s the first large surface available when we walk in the garage door. There is a separate 3-foot counter by the refrigerator that is the designated “office space”, it also ends up cluttered with more receipts, paperwork to do or remember, etc. Every week or so I go through and clean it up but somehow over the week it just gets cluttered up again!

The hardest room to keep clutter free for me is my dining room. It’s one of the first rooms you see when you enter my home, and it’s where school papers, my purse, groceries, etc. get dumped when walking in.

There are so many choices. Currently,however, it is our office because it is being used by my husband for his job search, 3 teenagers for their homework and as storage for my homeschooling stuff. Ughh! And did I mention that it is open and visible to all who walk in? Pretty sure we should just put a door on it and call it good.

Great post! I made my husband read this because I am always telling him that I need ORDER in our household! We run our business from our home, so my house is my office-when work requires a 10-12 hour day from me, the order in the house gives me a sense of control over my domain. Other stuff we cant control, but the hotspots we can!

My office. It has become the dumping ground for anything without a home. It’s out of sight, which is a blessing and a curse. We recently got married, so that room is even more out of control than normal, with wedding gifts, and an influx of my husband’s things. Eeek!

You’d think as a single mom with a daughter away at college, I’d be living clutter-free and clean 24/7. Not. I have a small area on my kitchen countertop that collects things needing to find their home, everything from “what needs to go out into the garage” to “heading to the craft room,” to “please file me.” I’m forever getting things to where they need to be and creating a new pile at the same time.

The garage entry into our basement – it’s been on my “mission list” to create a mud area there for a while now I am just struggling on the look I want. But without it, coats, backpacks, briefcases, shopping bags and shoes all tend to pile near the door and on the table in the center of the area. It is the first thing I see when I get home and instantly unsettles me! I have to be careful to clear it out so the chaos doesn’t creep throughout the house, but it would be great to have solutions there that would keep the inevitable dumping under control!

Definitely the ledge/bar area of the kitchen! It’s not exactly the counter top so everyone somehow feels like its more ok to dump there. It’s out of control with mail, school papers, toys, nail clippers, medicine, coasters,etc! You name it and it’s probably on there!

I find my kitchen the most cluttered. The kids book bags, coats, shoes, mail, electronics, toys, magazines, school papers, and more papers all seem to find a landing spot in the kitchen. I’m convinced that papers are asexual and multiply all on their own when no one is looking! I’ve created several organizational items to help over the years (ooks for the kids coats, cubbies in the coat closet for their shoes, baskets on the stairs for each kid to collect all those lego peices and other items that don’t find their way home and a basket on the counter for mail). I’m off to a good start. Now it’s time to put the steps into action.
Thanks for the reminder that it’s never to late to get organized and I accept your 30 day challange.
God Bless
Gail

Our dining room. I work from home and our dining room table is my desk during the day. Unfortunately, the papers usually stay there, pushed to the edge of the table, or moved to our other clutter hot spot: the built in buffet in our dining room. Thanks for the opportunity to enter and win some help organizing these spaces!

Probably my closet.. I try on a bunch of clothes in the morning, and then pile them up on a chair (since I always seem to be running late..) and then when I come home from work, I tell myself I’m too tired to clean it up. By the end of the week, I find a mountain of clothes in my closet and feel overwhelmed and stressed-out(!). I couldn’t agree with you more about making these little things a habit and not letting it get out of control.

My craft room is a hot mess 900% off the time! Just when I make a little headway in organizing it, my husband finds something else that needs to live there, a have a project that needs to be completed quick or whatever. That room needs help!

It’s a pretty common problem, but I am going to chime in here with my Kitchen, specifically my peninsula countertop. It’s like a magnet for everything that does not belong in the kitchen. I am excited to implement your ideas and make them work!

It used to be the kitchen counter when the children were small..now the children have grown, but are in transition and all their ‘extra’ stuff gets left behind. So I will have to say that their old bedrooms are the most cluttered spots. My husband and I have been working on them-containers,labels and the attic are our best friend right now. This giveaway would certainly be a lifesaver!!

As with a lot of the other women’s comments…kitchen, kitchen, kitchen! I love the fact that it’s a great space for my family to be together, but it is impossible to keep it all neat and tidy like I would love to see it!

The kitchen, mainly because it’s the “drop-off point” right when we get home. All the mail, bags, random take-home items end up on the kitchen table or floor. I would really love to reclaim my kitchen table as an actual place to eat!

Our kitchen, for sure. We usually use the rear entrance into the kitchen for our main entryway, so everything gets dropped there before being put anywhere else. Mail, kids school papers, bags of athletics uniforms on the way to the wash, the dogs leashes, etc. I really need to find a way to organize the mass of school papers that comes into our home!

The kitchen… for sure. Its the main gathering place for my family. Between meals, dishes, homework, and mail, I find it tough to stay on top of it all. We bough our house 2 years ago and the kitchen had been updated and is gorgeous. That’s my motivation. It cleans up real nice!

IT IS MY KITCHEN OFFICE AREA. IT IS LARGE, GRANITE COUNTERS,WONDERFUL WINDOWS AND IT IS ALWAYS PILED HIGH WITH PAPERS, CHILDREN’S PAPERS, BILLS,THINGS TO GET TO, BEAUTIFUL PRINT OUTS, IDEAS, BOOKS, MAGAZINE ARTICLES AND RECIPE IDEAS, ETC. I AM OFTEN OVERWHELMED. I NEED TO REVIEW MY HABITS, DEVELOP SYSTEMS THAT WORK, AND SIMPLIFY MY PAPER LIFE. HELP!

The dining room. Its the first room that everyone walks into when we enter the house. So everything gets dumped there, whether on the table or the floor. It’s also being used as my husband’s music studio right now, so there are guitars, speakers and all other kinds of music equipment around the room.

I am excited about this post because 1) I have clutter hotspots and 2) we just moved so I am still trying to figure out how to organize certain areas. I get overwhelmed by the amount of things and how to organize them

My office is the hardest place. Paper seems to come in faster than I can throw it out. It is kind of a drop off point for me for my purse, the mail, etc. I run our business from my home office as well as write. I could really use some of the organizing products from The Container Store or Target to help with this. Thanks for a wonderful give away!

The kitchen table…The dining room table…The coffee table…all flat surfaces in our house seem to be “hot spots” for all of the junk we accumulate in our busy lives! I will definitely use your post as my boost to clean something up today! :)

My bedroom, it is the last room down a very long hallway and it is easy to leave it to the last or not at all. Actually it is my closet in my room, Thrown in shut the door!! out of sight out of mind. Inside my home I keep everything pretty tidy at all times, I am like you, can not stand stuff all around me, but in the hidden areas, like the garage and closets, I am a mess!! Great giveaway!! Kathysue

Our kitchen is the toughest room to keep clutter free. Our back door opens to the kitchen which means shoes, coats, and bags land on the breakfast nook. Mail and paperwork stay on the table too. And I swear my husband is allergic to doing the dishes! I would love to find some methods to keep this room clutter free. Thank you for the great column!

So my husband and I are newlyweds and new homeowners, and our habits are awful considering there are still boxes everywhere from our move. Our worst though is probably the desk in our family room/office. EVERYTHING gets piled there, mail, junk, important papers, all mixed together. I figure 90% of the time that sucker is covered and very obviously unorganized!

It appears I’m not alone in saying this…my kitchen counters! I’m lucky to have quite a bit of counter space, but it always seems to end up housing piles of recipes/papers, bowls of produce, and all the random items that are “in transition” to their actual home. It seems I’m always on the lookout for a new system to keep it clear and organized.

Definitely the kitchen counters! No matter how hard I work on keeping it clean and clutter free (I’m a bit OCD), my husband will find the way to leave something…whether it’s food, groceries, or dishes!
Thanks for the giveaway…Awesome post!

My livingroom/diningroom/office…it’s all the same room. When I have company, I have to figure out where to stash the office so we can sit at the table and not look at my piles of work while seated in the sitting area. I may win a prize for most items (of use)squeezed into smallest space. I like the clean slate idea though, and permission to bag it until it can be dealt with. xo

the MOST cluttered? such a hard question! I think the most cluttered/frustrating spot in my house is the kitchen desk. It’s a dumping ground for 6 people and all of our junk/treasures/bills/art projects, etc.

My Kitchen is the hardest place to keep clean!!! Everyone hangs out in the kitchen and/or is the place to put everything…it is not only a family gathering space, a place for the “cook”, but also holds our mail center and the pet food and dishes….so many messes!! Counters are cluttered with papers, mail, water bottles, magazines…need I say more? haha.

Oooh… my apartment is tiny and only three bedroom, but the room we seem to have the biggest problem with is the family room- where we spend most of our time. It’s just little things, but I start to notice shoes, sweatshirts, magazines, books, and blankets slowly collecting in weird places a few days after I’ve de-cluttered. We’re looking to buy a house soon- that gift certificate sure would be great!! Love the 30 day habit-forming idea!

The only place worse than my kitchen counters is my DINING ROOM! That big empty table just attracts clutter like a magnet! It’s such a nice, flat place to put something on and closer to the back door (our main entrance) than any of the rooms those things are supposed to live in. The chairbacks make perfect places to ‘hang’ a jacket or sweatshirt; no need to go BACK to the coatrack at the back door, or ALL THE WAY to the bedroom closet. Mail just naturally accumulates there. Laundry likes to make an unscheduled visit, either on the way to or on the way from the laundry room. Unfinished projects take up residence for weeks at a time.

The most cluttered area in our home is our bedroom. We spend so much time in the common living spaces. We like to keep those areas clutter free, but if something doesn’t have a spot it always ends up in our room. The door can be closed and there is non the wiser about the mess. I love to be in there when it is clean, so I can’t wait to use these tips!

Definitely my Dinning room table! It is right by the front door and everything gets dropped on the end of the table or the two chairs closest to the door. Drives me crazy! Thanks for doing this giveaway! Awesome!!

My study, because it’s the only place I can keep paper away from my paper-eating cat, but he meows incessantly when I’m in there without him so I tend to stash stuff there and not spend much time dealing with it.

That’s an easy one! Our den is the most cluttered room in the home. It’s where crayons, papers, coloring books, markers, books, video games, random toys, clothing that gets thrown around, etc finds its home. It’s a nightly routine to unclutter the area just so it can go right back to junky the next day!

My office area! It is located right when you walk in the door. I put everything there when I don’t know what to do with it and is the spot where personal and professional papers are supposed to go. I also put all of my craft and decorating projects there to finish later. What a mess, wish I had a door to close!

The kitchen is the biggest clutter hotspot in my house! It’s right off the front entrance so the kitchen table is a dumping ground for coats and school stuff. Mail gets piled onto the kitchen island and dirty dishes pile up in the sink. I don’t have enough food storage so there’s always something sitting out on the counter – extra bags of chips or snacks. It’s by far the biggest mess and causes the most stress!

The kitchen is easily the most difficult room to keep clean in our home. The counter tops double as art tables and homework/mail drop zones. Plus any cooking that supposed to be going on in there. It gets crazy fast!

I would have to say, my bedroom. Since it’s the room people don’t get to see, i end up leaving clothes,makeup and other items laying around. Also our closet is very small and not organized at all so it makes it diffcult to find other items which add to the “clothes everywhere” issue when getting dressed.

I am a pretty organized person, but it never fails that our kitchen area is the most disasterous area in our house. It only seems to stay clean for about 5 mins then things start piling up on the counters. It doesn’t help that it’s the main entry and exit points to our garage and outdoors.

Without a doubt our worst clutter-spot is our kitchen table … but then when we sit down for dinner we pil it all up and move it over to a buffet table nearby. The end result is that 90% of the time there is junk in both places! Drives me batty! Two spots identified, three more to go!

I have a peek through (I guess I’m not sure what it’s REALLY called?) window from my kitchen into the living room. The counter on that thing is ALWAYS a hot mess. Mail, keys, scarves, purses, etc…it’s really the dumping ground for anything and everything. Yikes! Thanks for the great tips. Here’s hoping I can do this! :)

We just moved and my clutter spots are appearing already! Biggest spot is on the kitchen counter by the computer area…kids school papers, mail etc. I am trying to make a goal of clearing it out every night, now I just have to get organized on where to put everything and not lose track of where I put it!

I am an organized person and I thrive when my home is clean and clutter free but for some reason my 2 boys (3 1/2 & 2) are less than organized. Clutter inevitably piles up around here! Bring on the spring cleaning!

The Living/Family Room!!! It is the one room where my family all loves to hang out together in and because of that it gathers all sorts of stuff like; toys, clothes when we change the kids for bed, shoes, books and dishes when we eat around the coffee table. Fun times, but oh the messes!

We tend to have little hot spots all over the house, but by far the one that fills up the quickest is the kitchen peninsula. Not really an island, but it separates the DR and kitchen and it’s always the first surface we all dump on. :(

Definitely my kitchen! I have a bar-height peninsula counter and it gets covered in papers the kids bring home from school, bills, kids’ half-finished art projects, magic markers, small plastic toys, elastic hair bands, books, magazines, the newspaper, napkins, half-finished snacks, coins, friendship bracelets, coupons, scotch tape, and I could go on all day. Even the bar stools gather junk! Whenever I have company coming, de-cluttering this area is a top priority. My husband sometimes de-clutters the kitchen bar area on the weekend, but by Monday afternoon it gets cluttered again! I desperately want to stop the kitchen clutter!!!!

Great ideas, thanks for sharing!! I would have to say my dinning room table and buffet, it seems to collect all things from mail to toys….have to unclutter it daily!!! Hoping to win a gift card!!!
Michele

The kitchen counter is the worst! Everything from mail, recycling, clean dishes (that no one likes to put away), crumbs, food, empty plastic bags, receipts, lunch boxes, etc. It’s the first room as you enter the house, so everyone is guilty of dumping stuff on the counters.

oh mylanta! MY OFFICE!! it never seems to be straightened up and it has become a pit of despair. {me melodramatic much?} :) winning this would go a long way to making headway in this place. thanks for the opportunity to fix it all!

The most difficult room to keep clean and clutter free would be my kitchen. Everything coming and going lands in this room and seems to take up residence. I make it a point to leave the sink empty every night, but there is a lot of clutter that has accumulated that isn’t kitchen related.

My desk computer area- seems it is the dumping ground for everything….at least twice a week I have to dig out. {it wouldn’t be so bad if it was just my space but I share with my Husband =)
Great tips
Thanks

My Garage! We just moved into a new house. Between storage containers, piles to go to good-will,boxes that we still need to go through, and my husband being too lazy to put things back where they belong, this is the room in my house that I am currently most frustrated with. I think I am going to really take a good stab at this room as soon as the weather warms up. :D

We moved recently and so I have new clutter areas that are driving me crazy! Right now, my worst area is my laundry room. We come in the house there and shoes, backpacks, and lunch boxes are dropped. I put a short book shelf in there, but it is filled and overflowing with shoes. Not to mention the dog crate, food, and leash are in there, as well as our recycling bin. Ugh! it’s so much clutter and stresses me out first thing walking into my home. I would love to win the gift cards so I can get it organized. {crossing my fingers} :)

I am not what you would call a “keeper.” I have a small home, with four kids and two dogs, so there is no room in my life for clutter. For some reason though the area between my kitchen and family room, specifically the counter area, seems to ALWAYS be riddled with clutter. I guess there will always be the one “catch-all” spot, as my mom called it. But I’ll never stop trying to keep it clean!

There is one corner of our kitchen that is ALWAYS a mess. It’s right by the door where we come in and tends to be the place where everyone just drops what they are holding. Everything from socks and shoes, to hair bows, to sippy cups, the mail, books, little toys, keys…you name it, it all ends up there! I can clean it three times a day and it would still be cluttered!

My kitchen is a clutter magnet. I think it’s because we come into the house through the kitchen (dumpling zone) and the kitchen table generally has more clutter on it in a day than food. Thanks for the helpful ideas!

Although I’ve only just begun to really organize myself and my home, especially as a student I still find that my office area is ALWAYS the most cluttered. No matter how many times I seem to clean it and put things into a place, I always end up having another pile of clutter on my desk and around my desk daily.

kitchen counters. our non-existent garage means we park nearest our kitchen door. we come in, bags go on the counters instead of into the remaining parts of the house where they belong. i have visions of a bench & coat hook behind the kitchen door for these things, but as of yet haven’t gotten to it w/ my 2 under 2.5.

When my house isn’t cluttered it feels peaceful. My problem area is my kitchen desk, everything seems to get dumped there. And the items are usually important so it takes time and thought to place them where they should be. And that is easily put off, especially when I know that behind the doors and drawers of the desk lies space that has gotten filled and needs to be cleaned out too!

The place that seems to be the hardest for me to keep clutter free and clean is our master bath. I can scrub it until it shines and a couple of crazy hectic morning days later it looks so messy…(again!) sigh. I would love some nice basket organization for our built in shelves that currently display everything! I want to love my bathroom, but it just makes me want to abandon it =}

My main problem is the main living area, which includes the living room (TOYS!) and the dining room table and some other surfaces that keep getting cluttered with random papers, toys that shouldn’t be on the floor, medicine, charge cords, library books, Netflix videos, snacks, you name it. Drives me batty.

HOnestly it is the kitchen counter! It seems we all walk in the door straight to the kitchen and dump everything on the small counter by the fridge! I need to find a way to organize all the misc small stuff!! Love your blog!

It’s our family room, kitchen area – it’s all one big space and where we are all the time. We have twins due in April and a 2.5 year old….and it’s always so hard to keep neat and organized. Between toys, mail, day-day-tasks, etc. I can’t imagine what it will turn into when the babies come!! I have to get it in order now and use your great tips to try to find a new way to do things – so it can be habit! Thanks for the chance!

My teen age girls’ bathroom os so hard to clean…. They use so much product on their hair and it gets caked on the bath tub. Shaving cream, soap scum… It is a huge mess!!!! Clorox clean up helps a lot but it is a tough job to stay beautiful!!!! I love my girls but, what a mess!! : ))

I don’t know which is worse, the laundry room or our family room desk. Both of these are catchalls, obviously for different types of things. The laundry catches all laundry/cleaning supplies type of things and the desk catches all daily mail, papers to be sorted and filed, receipts, etc. It can be quite overwhelming.

My Art Room! It is impossible to keep organized because it isn’t 100% finished. It had 7 layers of wallpaper on it, so I’m slowly getting closer to finishing the room. I have so many creative things and nowhere to put them, so naturally it becomes very cluttered very fast. Plus, it currently is being used as a laundry room as well, so add dirty clothes to the mix and it’s a recipe for disaster. Right now I can’t do creative things because it stresses me out to go in there! I desperately need a method of organization to help turn my Art Room back to my favorite room in the house.

Probably the kitchen island–it’s such a focal point in our kitchen that I always want to look pretty and tidy, but it tends to collect homework papers, half-filled glasses, and backpacks. Right now it even has a package of toilet paper on it that I need to take to the bathroom!

Our kitchen island is our clutter hot spot. It is located right when we walk in the garage door, so it collects purses, keys, mail, shopping bags, important papers, dog leash, etc etc etc. I try SO hard to keep that area clean, but it always seems to get away from me.

The most difficult room in our house to keep clean is the kitchen. It seems like that is where everyone throws their things. The most difficult room outside the house is the garage. If I hate seeing it in the kitchen, I put it in the garage. My husband LOVES this. :)

My kitchen by far is the most difficult to keep clutter free. Specifically one area of counter top that becomes the dumping ground for all new items brought into the house. Usually the big stuff gets put away fairly quickly, but the little stuff and mail/papers end up stacked. It drives me bananas becasue it is the first are you see as you enter the house via the garage, so I never come home to a clean counter – which makes me grumpt and automatically puts me into clean-up mode. I think I could relax at home a lot more if I could nip that one problem area. Major roadblock to fixing this is the husband though. UGH!

The most difficult room in our house to keep clean is the laundry room. We are renovating our 1939 craftsman style home and all of the materials seem to end up there until used for the many ongoing projects. The most difficult outside would be our garage. We are doing the house projects first before we tackle redoing the garage hence the mess in our laundry room :)

My husband works out of the home…he has an office and a little portable office…..but his computer, files and PENS end up all over the house. I continue to pick up everything and put it back in his office…on a bad day the pens actually go airborne.

Oddly enough, my guest room is my biggest challenge right now. I have a grandbaby, and keep all his “equipment” there when he isn’t visiting….portacrib, high chair, baby gates, playpen, basket of toys, etc. How can such a little person need so many BIG items??? :-)

Outside the house….our garage, though we have installed kitchen cabinets and a great maple worktop. BUT, my husband is a tool “junkie”, not small tools, but drill presses, etc. We need an annex to house them all! Now if only he would use them on a fantastic home improvement project!!! :-)

Oh it’s most surely my master bedroom closet! I have a “sickness’ with shoes…and clothes also, and it shows. I’m in serious need of some storage as my shoes, clothes and accessories are piled atop each other and all over the place. I also currently use those cheapo plastic hangers, you know the one’s you can buy for about $3 for 20! They leave the most hideous wrinkles in my clothes. Oh and I am still using some of those lovely wire hangers also. It’s just a serious mess, so much so that I am the only person allowed in the room in fear someone could seriously injure themself with all the mess and lack of organization/storage! Pitiful :(

This is a tough question– I seem to fight clutter everywhere– but I am going to say my diningroom b/c it is the first horz surface in my house, and I dump my things there— so therefore I have a difficult time with that room– the other rooms are cluttered b/c of the other family members– AWESOME BLOG!!!

The most difficult room for me to keep clutter-free is the family room. My whole family gathers there to read, watch TV and hang out. Books and CDs and DVDs piles up. Clothes and shoes get left on the floor. Toys get left all over. It always feels like just as I get it nice and neat, someone is going in there with a bowl of popcorn to watch a movie! And you know those kernels end up in the couch cushions!

The hardest room to keep clean is the kitchen. Everything ends up on the island and the table. As fast as I clear it, something ends up on it. I’m going to do the 30 day habits to help me keep these hotspots clean and clutter free. The hardest room outside is the garage. Like another poster, anything that doesn’t have a home in the house ends up out there much to my husbands dismay.

Ugh,… most difficult room to keep clean and clutter-free? Sadly, in our home it’s the room inhabited the least: the master suite. Yes, though I am a stay-at-home-seemingly-never-busy-mom, with three toddlers under three there is rarely moment enough to organize anything in there and no one really ever sees it. I generally say “Good-bye” to the mess in the early morning after a 2-second shower and dress routine, and finally get the opportunity to reunite come bedtime when I’m in a zombie-like state. Who’s gonna clean at that time?! It’s a constant inner-battle to keep up with the space that should be my favorite.

Our bedroom is the most difficult room to keep clean. When guests are coming over, all the clutter from the kitchen and family room get thrown into the bedroom where we can close the door. Don’t even get me started on the garage!!!

The hardest room to keep clean is my 6 yr old daughters room. She is a collector and artist and keeps everything because it’s “speshul” to her! We could really use the gift cards for more organization tools like baskets and whatnot!

Oh my, where to start??? The clutter spot that bothers me the most would be the kitchen counters and table. If it lands there, it stays there. Got to break that habit (now, how do I deal with the hubs’ habit?)

The biggest issue in my home is the laundry room, because we enter and exit through it. There’s no space for coat hooks, but that doesn’t seem to matter! Everything gets dropped on top of the ironing board.

At first I was going to say my kitchen island. We drop keys, mail, chapstick, etc, etc, etc there. Also, the sink is in the island so there is almost always a dirty cup sitting there as well.

But, then I realized that the master bedroom is worse! I leave unfolded laundry in baskets, rarely make the bed, let’s stacks of “I’m not sure what to do with this stuff” stuff pile up on the dressers. This is my biggest problem area because NO ONE but us ever goes in there. But it isn’t a calm and restful place to be in it’s messy state. I didn’t even realize it bothered me so much until I started writing this comment. I think it’s time for a change!

The spot in my house that receives and retains the most clutter is the dining-area table in my kitchen. EVERYTHING that comes into the house passes by that table, and if it isn’t walking, being worn, or isn’t refrigerated “stuff” it gets deposited on that table. And becomes out-dated there. And lost there. Alas.

Definitely the kitchen, specifically the kitchen table…this is where the mail, jackets, shoes, randoms are always thrown upon entering the house. It is a never-ending battle keeping it clear so we can actually eat on it occasionally :)

Talking of identifying one spot that appears cluttered in the house is the washroom – the sight is just so unb:earable and to make matters worst if I had to share hubby dears car – I ask for God’s mercy,literally have to pick up things from the seat to sit!

The hardest room to keep clutter free is our computer/craft room. It’s a bedroom but it ends up being a catch all space for us so it really truly hasn’t been clutter free since we moved here and well, that’s been awhile. I really want to get things under control but sometimes I just don’t know how. I’m going to try to delutter 3 spaces today, your post has given me the inspiration!

Definitely, our cozy little den is in dire need of an organizational overhaul. Mail, packages to return, books, art supplies, Legos, random chachkies, pens, magazines we keep meaning to read but never get to, small tools, boxes of photographs as well as photos without frames, mystery keys and screws, the digital camera & accessories, and other junk clutter the space terribly. We also use several shelves for our DVD collection, not to mention the Wii & games, router and modem are located in this room and there are black wires galore marring the clean white walls. Ultimately, we have sacrificed this room to keep our great room/kitchen area visitor-ready!

The room has the potential to be gorgeous, with a wall of built-in shelving, lovely hardwood floor and fantastic natural light, but this project just keeps getting put on the back burner! What makes it easier to delay is that the mess can be concealed from company by simply closing the door that is located to the right of our foyer.

I need baskets, containers, additional shelves, dividers and lots of other little accessories. Just one quiet weekend and $500 in gift cards can help to give this room the appearance it deserves. :-)

By far the most difficult room in our house to keep clean is the living room, because that’s where we spend all of our time! My husband and I work from home, and our twin boys play there, but they’re only 8 months, not old enough to learn to put their own things away! I will definitely be focusing our organizing efforts there!

It’s a toss up between the living room and the kitchen. Actually, we have an open concept floor plan so the kitchen is open to the living room. Perhaps that’s why it’s difficult to define where the clutter begins and ends.

The kitchen is the hardest room to keep clean. I love clean, cleared off counters and no clutter but my husband does the cooking and loves everything within easy reach (he doesn’t see messes like I do either).

The most difficult room to keep clean and cluttered free is my bedroom! I spend the least amount of time in that room which means that is where I dump everything! Especially when company is coming over and I do not have time to clean and organize the entire house. I dump clean clothes out of the dryer, random mail I need to go through, anything that does not yet have a place…everything and then I simply hide it by closing the door!

Our master bedroom is so hard to keep organized. When I clean the rest of the house I tend to “hide” any items I don’t want to deal with in our bedroom. I am trying to do better because I do want a restful, beautiful room for my husband and I.

Honestly, I TRY to keep the kitchen clean. I pick up the things that shouldn’t be there, wipe everything down, and put away what’s meant to stay in the kitchen. Now, if I could just train the rest of my family to do the same… ;-)

My craft room/office is the one.
There are almost enough places to put things, but not quite.
When I am actually crafting, I don’t want to put everything away, or else I lose motivation to keep working. It’s hard to strike a balance that makes me happy.

My master bedroom is by far the messiest. Since moving into our house (nearly 2 years ago) it seems to be the place where I put stuff when I don’t know where else to put it. Plus is is laundry central, and at the end of the day the laundry on the bed that was meant to be folded gets moved to the floor for another day. But the part that bothers me the most in our home is our computer desk. It’s central to our kitchen, dining, and living rooms and is our command station of sorts. It’s a double computer desk, 10′ long with lots of room for homework, bills, and whatnot to pile up. I see this a lot more often and it drives me nuts. But let’s be honest, with a giveaway this big, I could afford to remedy both areas! Thanks for the chance Melissa and Clorox!

My living room/family room is the hardest to keep uncluttered because that is the designated play area for our youngest and, boy oh boy, does he have lots of toys!! All are well-loved and well-played-with, but we do need to do some trouble shooting to keep this area under control! It affects how every one feels and sets other problems in motion. We have tried a few different things but most have not panned out for not having the discipline to keep up!! Still working on it and hope to get it reigned in before he’s 18 yrs. old!! I do hope we don’t have to wait ’til then!!

Most definitely the office/TV room/library. Papers breed like rabbits in there and it tends to be the catch-all space. I often clean the whole house but end at the door of that room when I am worn out!

The kitchen island! It is the keeper of all clutter! It seems there is always a pile of papers, dishes, and other randoms that get placed there. It would be awesome if the only thing on it was a bowl full of fruit. I’ll get working on it! :)

My kitchen…my countertops are always cluttered because my husband comes in and dumps the mail, his pockets, his receipts, etc. and then the kids dump their stuff on top of this until there is a huge mess. It’s amazing that when my kitchen is clean, my whole house feels cleaner.

Our laundry room is the worst offender…it triples as a craft room and out of season clothing storage, so it can easily become a compete dumping ground for everyone in the family. And since it’s far away from the living and entertaining areas, it seems to “catch” everything that was not put away everywhere else…seriously, no laundry gets folded in there simply because there is no longer room :(

Our biggest clutter hotspot is without a doubt our kitchen counter peninsula. All of the mail, kids lunch boxes, kids art from school, dishes waiting to be washed or to go into the dishwasher find their way there. It is my constant battle!

My kitchen table is definitely a hot spot. It’s the spot where we all walk to when we come in the door and everything seems to land there. Makes me crazy when I have dinner ready and the table is a clutered mess and then it all just gets transferred somewere else!

My dining room is the most difficult to keep clean and clutter-free. It gets the overflow from the day (the mail, purses and coats) as well as overflow from the kitchen (dishes that need to be put on a shelf that I can’t reach).

Definitely my kitchen countertops…seems my family thinks this is the dumping spot for all their toys, coats, backpacks, dirty dishes, etc. It’s bad enough that I have to cook, but having to clean up a mess before even getting started puts me in a bad mood and makes me want to order pizza.

Definitely our bedroom! Everything gets thrown in there (laundry, papers, etc.) if company comes over. More specifically, and one of my hotspots, my nightstand! I can’t even open the drawer! I easily identified our hotspots, just the thought of them stressses me out!! I’m going to try to tackle one every evening after the baby is down and then maintain! Thanks for the great post!

Definitely the kitchen! We’re working with a very miniscule budget, and a long timeline as a result, to install a kitchen (the kitchen was completely empty and needed lots of DIY TLC). Basically, the kitchen is suboptimal to begin with. Add in the fact that “stuff” just seems to naturally gravitate and build up in this area… well, it can be downright unbearable at times.

The one spot I am looking forward to tackling is the top of my stairs. I have a “landing” spot for all of the things that need to be taken around the upstairs. I am planning on cleaning it up every night before I got to be for the 5 minute round up. I am looking forward to having this stop being such an eye sore when I walk up and down the stairs.

Our family just moved into a new home and we never had a formal dining table before. Over the last few weeks I can see why!!!!! That table is the catch all clutter all dining area of doom. This post could not have come at a better time because now I can put these easy steps into practice and they should be a that much easier to make a habit! Thanks “inspired Room”, for saving the day!

my table gets all the clutter.. hubby brings in the mail and it will keep piling up until its tipping over [ahhhh]. Another spot will have to be my craft closet {i even told hubby dont open the door its messy i will clean it tomorrow.}

My hot spot is the one full bathroom in my house! We are a family of five with 3 teenage sons (Lord help me) and the bathroom vanity and tub are always spots that need my attention multiple times a day! All three boys shaving is really putting me over the edge! Who knew there were so many bath products geared toward men these days, they seem to like to try them all and leave the bottles, tubes, etc. all over the place! If they had their own bathroom it wouldn’t be a problem but it’s our family and guest bath, HELP!

I’d say it’s my kitchen & family room. All sorts of things just seem to magically land on countertops, the couch, the table and the ottoman. Then,said things, seem to magically multiply overnight! Lol! What a fantastic giveaway! I am crossing my fingers :)

I have a lot of areas that really are “clutter catchers”; but I’d have to say that our kitchen counters are THE WORST. I use clear jars for decorative use (pasta, rice, beans); other items I’ve acquired via direct sales home decor company. I’m hoping to rectify this before my DH returns from Afghanistan in May…EEEK! Really doesn’t give me a lot of time!

The first of many difficult rooms is my laundry room. I am purging the closets in my bedroom and after laundering I am sorting everything into totes to be recycled into sewing projects or to donate.

My teen son refuses to use the hampers provided, knocks things behind the dryer and throws dirty clothes and wet towels on clean items. Cats get in there and leave hair on what I am working on or knock things over.

I plan to build out cabinetry in several areas of the large combination bath and laundry room. Containers would be wonderful to keep items dust-free and easy to pull from cabinets!

I’ve been trying to avoid stashing my piles of paper work on my desk. Sadly, the kitchen counters now collect everything from the preschool pictures made of macaroni, to the weeks worth of junk mail (mixed in with the legitamite mail). House and mail keys get lost in all the paper work. Things get lost, thrown away or damaged because it sits in the middle of the meal prep space. It’s one of the worst ‘hot spots’ in my house and I have to curb it- Now!

I can not seem to keep our dinning table clutter free! We use it to organize the mail, bills,etc. So, we got an office, and that didn’t get organized either. So I gave away our huge-space-sucking office desk and the table is cluttered again! …Hummm maybe it has something to do with my husband being a CPA (accountant) and wanting to keep every receipt! I got to admit, I love his dedication to certain things. lol

We have built in shelving in our living room and not the cool kind with doors that can close away clutter. This translates to where the keys go, where the mail goes, where anything that doesn’t have a home goes. My declutter plan is to yank them out!

Definitely our kitchen table! My husband comes home from work and then sits down at the kitchen table and clutters it with so many papers and work things! Drives me crazy! I will definitely use these tips and hopefully in 30 days they will have become my new habits!!!!!!

Our dining room is drowning in clutter on some days! It’s the hub of the house and is always filled with stacks of mail, kids’ backpacks and shoes, and laptop cases. Not to mention the piles of school papers that seem to multiply despite our best efforts at staying on top of them! The area is such an embarrassment that we shove all the dropped items into a nearby cabinet or a bedroom if visitors stop by, and then tend to lose things in the process. Certainly not a relaxing and welcoming atmosphere for eating… the room’s actual purpose!

That would be the bathroom counter. There never seems to be enough time to go in there and get ready in the first place – not to mention putting the stuff away after! Phew – I need some new storage and some new habits too :-)

Definitely our family office. When someone in the family is unsure where to store something, they dump it in the office. I think it has to do with the abundance of horizontal surfaces – which are supposed to be work areas – not dumping grounds!

The worst room in my house to keep uncluttered is my laundry room. Its right off the kitchen so any time I have things sitting in my kitchen that shouldn’t be it gets stuck in there. Then every once in awhile I have to take time to stop and put all that stuff away. It seems never ending.

My magnet spot for clutter is the counter by our telephone in the kitchen…mail, school papers etc. With three children in three different schools, some days it feels as though the pile takes on a life of it’s own!!

My bedroom is the hardest to keep clean. It seems that I am so busy trying (and mostly failing) to keep the other parts of the house clutter free, my room is neglected. It’s not horrible…well….not SO horrible…but it needs help.

I’d say the hardest room to keep clean in our house is the office. Everything gets dumped there and there’s no real storage solution. I’d love to win the giftcards so I could get some better organization and storage in our office!

The counter on our kitchen island is our worst spot, and the most frustrating for me, because it is the first thing we see when we walk in th door, and because we have a very small kitchen and that is the only usable space for preparing food. I feel like I am constantly having to clear it off of things that aren’t even kitchen related. Thanks for the do-able tips!

It has to be the dining room. Our entry way is just too small (think five people with a zillion shoes, coats, hats, sports gear, etc. etc.) and it spills into the dining room. The hutch and the table are prime clutter zones – items to be returned to friends, things for an upcoming event, the laptop, kid projects, you name it. We are redoing the office so my desk and my daughters desk are temporarily in there as well and usually look like a bomb explosion went off. Unfortunately it is the first room you see when you walk in and that makes me crazy :-)

My kitchen is the most difficult room to keep clean. For months I didn’t even have access to my table because there was just so much stuff on it. I try my best to keep the clutter to a minimum, but it just seems to creep up every time I leave the room!

I find the kitchen to be the are that I have the most hot spots in and decluttering in there is so difficult. There is a junk counter and the spot above the microwave, the area to the side of the fridge and on top of the fridge. Yikes, it is so frustrating!

The most difficult room for me to keep clean has to be the kitchen. I LURVE a clean kitchen with a sparkling sink and counters free from clutter BUT since we eat 3 times (or more) a day, get a drink, prepare food, feed the dog, eat the m & m’s in the container on the island (oops! did I admit that out loud??)there’s no way it stays picked up EVERY day! Also, I often bring my mail straight in the kitchen to open and discard junk, but then it stays there! Container Store and Target are my very FAVES for organizational bobbles!

Oh, sign me up! Right now, my bedroom gets to cluttered, cause I don’t have enough room to spread out. All my paper clutter gets to be too much at times & I can’t wait to get it more organized and have more space!

That would be my dinning/school area!!!! We homeschool but don’t have a particular area dedicated for school work since we have very limited space. Everything tends to be done at our table and all the papers, books, and miscellaneous stuff has taken over.

my whole house is a mess. i moved 2 years ago and haven’t found a place for everything yet. most table tops are cluttered. my good friends have seen this and love me anyway but it does prevent me from inviting others to my home.

That would definitely have to be the kitchen. We are in there soooo much. Three meals a day, plus somebody drops/sets things down every time they walk thru. Precious little hand prints…everywhere! It practically swallows me up a times.

I’m going to go with my 4 year old ‘crafty’ daughter’s room. My sweet DD loves to collect and make things, no matter how hard I try to teach her where to put things and how to organize, it just seems there are little piles of ‘art’ everywhere :)

My kitchen and bedroom are hotspots. My one kitchen counter is the spot for all clutter like mail & papers from school. I can never keep this spot clutter free. The other spot is my bedroom I guess it’s just the dump all room for everything that doesn’t have a place.

Our clutter spot is the desk area in our kitchen. Mail, kids papers, etc. collect constantly. It’s annoying because I spend so much time in the kitchen and am always feeling cluttered even though most of our house is under control.

The kitchen is the worst. There never seems to be a good spot for anything and that is where the family dumps everything from the table when getting ready to set the table. Just thinking about it makes me cringe.

The most difficult room in my house to keep clutter free is my walk in closet. It has become a place to store my craft stuff, gifts, memory books, clothes to take to dry cleaners/special care items, etc. I want my closet back! :)

The absolute worst is the bench in the front room/my office. It’s where everybody drops our ‘stuff’ when we come in the house. Somedays it looks like an explosion at a mini-mall: shoes, sneakers, books, handbags, gloves everywhere (hey, what’s that extension cord doing there?)!

Our most difficult clutter area is the dining room table. It seems like when someone doesn’t know where to put something it ends up there. Also all the mail and slips of paper accumulate there. It is annoying!

My kitchen is the hardest are to de-clutter. I don’t have a pantry so I struggle daily creating working area, a place for everything and some kind of storage for normal supplies. I haven’t mastered it yet, but I am working on it and I love the 30 days to new habits article.

I have two spots that are so difficult for me. The dining room table and the exercise/craft room. I have a computer in the dining room and the table seems to become an extension of the corner “office” and in the mad rush to clean up every extra item gets dumped in the craft room (which is really my son’s old room).

It’s very frustrating running around trying to “put all the fires out” whenever there is a mess!!

The worst spot in my house is my bedroom. It is next to the laundry room, so all the clean clothes for the family (of 6) end up in my room, in baskets to be folded…and it never seems to get done!! I have recently inherited all my dad’s books, they are in boxes stacked in my room too. Add in the dog cage, extra blankets, plus all my work stuff (for lack of better place to put it), and its a disaster waiting to happen!! :(

Sadly, the worst spot for me to keep clean is my dressers in the bedroom. They are a graveyard for loose change, old receipts, and pocket lint. And while there are other hotspots in the house, the “public” spaces definitely get tidied more often than my personal space. I swear it’s an out of sight, out of mind issue. Well, until the end of the day when I walk in there and cringe. lol

My biggest clutter area is the master bath. This is where I get ready each morning and I am solely responsible for the mess that’s created! Hair appliances, make up, you name it. I have too much “stuff”!

my dining room is SO difficult to keep clear! it’s the central room in the house, & EVERYTHING imaginable ends up on the table. or on the floor. or on the buffet. basically, wherever is the least convenient, & the most in my way.

goodness me, my apartment is 560 square feet so if i don’t keep on top of it, it can get out of control pretty fast. the worst spot though, is my desk. it services as a sofa table, dining table, and office. it can get pretty hairy. any assistance would be AWESOME!

My kitchen by far is. It is the room we all gather in the most to do our life activities of eating, snacking, homeworking, projects, reading mail, the place where the kids come right after school to tell me about their day and set down what ever school supplies and jackets they have with them at the time. Miscellaneous items always end up on the counters with the undone dishes when someone doesn’t complete their dish day.

The peninsula of the kitchen counter, by far! Sometimes,if we run out of room on IT, the kitchen table that runs parallel to it seems to work just fine.
I have to “review” the stacks at the end of every night and purge the junk!

I don’t know if it’s because I can close the door and hide it or if I just need to take better care of myself but my closet in our room is always the clutter catcher. I can label, organize, and beautify every other space but my closet is always overflowing. Wasted many new years resolutions on this problem!

I live in a small apartment, with a livingroom-diningroom-kitchen (yes! all together)it is very difficult to have a “Declutter anything”! LOL. 2 children, 3 adults and only two bedrooms. But i tried. The dining table is the one that hold all our clutter(s) we try to clean it as many times a day as posible.

Definitely my kitchen. That’s where everyone drops anything they don’t want to take the time to put up. And even when the dishwasher is empty and ready to receive dirty dishes, people just pile their dishes on the counter.

The one spot that is DEFINITELY the hardest to keep clean and clutter free is the kitchen counter bar space. It is open space that becomes a dumping ground for mail, preschool art projects, and misc. items that need a home. It can all pile up too fast!

My#1 hotspot is my kitchen island. Whenever any members of my family enter the house,they seem to dump things right on my island. From keys to school books and papers,it all lands there. My #2 hotspot is my desk. As a school teacher my work is never done and it is all over my desk. My 3rd hotspot is my 16 year old daughters room. My solution there is to just shut the door!

My kitchen counters for sure! It is where everyone comes in and drops stuff on the counter. Unfortunately, I am the most guilty! When I come in, it seems there are 40,000 things to do so I let the counter just pile up. Thanks for the chance to win!

THE most difficult spot to keep tidy is the kitchen. In a family of eight (soon to be nine), there is a CONSTANT business in the kitchen – cooking, eating, dropping off mail on the counter, school projects…well, you get the idea. The easiest solution would be to put my family in a box so they couldn’t make messes, but where’s the fun in that? We’re improving daily in personal responsibility and tidying up at the end of the day, but there is still “stuff” that needs a home: outgrown clothes, papers to file, items to donate. Please help me become less of a cluttered crazy and more of a contained crazy!

I’d have to say our master bedroom. All the laundry from our 6 kiddos ends up piled high (along with mine and the hubby’s)and I take all the laundry there to fold…since it’s so much closer to the bedrooms than the laundry room.

The kitchen counters is the most tenacious clutter hotspot. It is a dumping ground for mail, bills, envelopes, tools, unfinished snacks, cough drops. I think I’ve tried to implement 3 different systems to deal with the clutter but it is slipping again. Too tired after work and dinner clean up to deal with clutter and to do maintenance.

I love your blog!!! If I had to choose ONE hotspot, it would be the kitchen. Homework, mail, magazines, art work, toys, laundry…you name it! UGh, drives me bonkers! I would LOVE to win some money to put toward organizing!! Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks! :)

My kitchen seems to be my nemesis when it comes to cleaning! The counters and table are used as mail, coupon, and “extras” collectors. It is the first room you enter when coming in the back door (which is our typical entrance). All the things brought in form the car fill any kind of clear space I may have made as well. And the floor is ALWAYS dirty. I have 2 little people eating at my house and so unless I can keep up by sweeping 3-4 times a day there is always something on the floor. I would LOVE to have more storage solutions in the kitchen or surrounding areas so that I can spend more time cleaning up after my little people instead of trying to sort through clutter.

The worst place for me, because I have tried to improve those hot spots already, is my stairs! I have moved everything to my stairs to be “taken up the next time I go up”. The stairs are FULL of this “taken up” stuff.

I have to say the most clutter spot is my bedroom. I have a small one that can not fit a dresser, a bed, a small table and a tv in there. I have to either switch rooms, or get better organized because the space between the bed and the small table is micro!

By far and away, the hardest room to keep clean is my 6 year old’s room (shared with 4 year old). He is incredibly creative and messy. No matter how many toys I cull or bins I give him, it is not enough.

wow, just one?!? i’d have to say our living room (which includes kitchen table to the side) right now .. we’re in a trailer so there isn’t much room & there’s not much organization .. since this is where we gather it’s the worst .. i’d love to be able to buy organizational items at target or the container store .. thx for the giveaway!!!

My kitchen island is the most cluttered area in the house. It is right by the garage door where everyone walks in and it attracts everyone’s “stuff”. I am excited to start this 30 day challenge/habit forming routine. Excited!

The current problem area in our home is the master bedroom. I have been working to get everything else clutter free and moving smoothly , but the laundry just seems to pile up in our room. We don’t have a laundry room, so our room is the laundry dumping ground.

At this very moment our entire house including the garage is a HOT SPOT, because we just moved into a brand new house! In our old house the big hot spot was the kitchen counter with paperwork. Ready to try a new system & ready for more organization!!!

It’s a toss-up between my bedroom, which is the dumping ground for everything that doesn’t have a home as well as my craft and scrapbooking supplies, and one counter in the kitchen where papers get tossed.

Definitely the kitchen! No matter what systems I set up… the counters, table, and island are always cluttered with papers, pens, dishes, homework! You name it!!! It’s a never ending mecca of mess! Thanks for the opportunity to win!

The office is our worst. Everyone in the family uses it, for homework, or coloring, or work. And the kids are always receiving crayons and art/craft supplies as gifts and it piles up everywhere. There really isn’t a good organization system in place, so nothing ever gets put away.

Kitchen, no doubt. Most used, most messed. Somehow, no matter what it’s where the mail gets dumped and spread out, backpacks are dropped, and shoes discarded not to mention the myriad of odd dishes family members just can’t seem to get into the dishwasher. Fortunately, when I call for a cleanup, they’re on it – just wish it would stay orderly!

The hardest room for me is the kitchen…especially the countertops. Too many people using the space. As soon as it’s clean, something (or someone) messes it up. Good plan for creating a habit. I’ll give it a try. Great giveaway. Thanks.

My worst hot spot is my bonus room. Everything that has no other place lands there, and it is very much in need of an organizational overhaul! Thank you for the chance to win the Target and The Container Store gift cards! The Container Store is my favorite store.

My kitchen is my most cluttered room. When we walk in the door after each busy day, that’s where most things are deposited- mail, school papers, receipts, lunch bags, etc. It creates clutter each day that builds throughout the week. I wish I had a better system for sorting it all.

My kitchen counter! My office is in the basement and so I don’t use it. That means all the kids homework, papers to be signed etc end up in a pile. The mail, “to do lists” ads and coupons wind up there too. No matter how much we try to purge, there is always a new stack to dig through.

It’s my fireplace hearth right near the back door! I come in, throw down my work bag and purse, empty receipts from my purse and throw them on to the hearth, leave magazines and old mail there, my winter scarf drapes over the fireplace screen like a limp noodle. Yup, it’s too convenient a spot to let things hang out there for awhile cluttering away…

the most difficult cluttery room in my apartment is my craft room/office. not for lack of trying, it just is always in a state of disarray. i have labeled boxes, shelves, rubbermaid drawer sets, and it never stays tidy! that’s mostly cause i’m always pulling stuff out of drawers though C: the closet in there is the worst offender though, i try not to open those doors!! when time and money allow, it will become priority #1 to get that organized for good!

Our worst room here is the kitchen, because our main entryway is in the corner of it. Despite having a closet right inside the door, I’m always picking up shoes and sweeping up a dirty mess. I would love to be able to get a handle on it!! One of these days…

I have a small bookshelf in the entry way that gets cluttered up. And the whole area becomes a dumping ground for shoes, jackets on the floor, mail, books, etc. UGH! I’d love to win the gift cards to get some more organization help!

Oh goodness…for me, it’s EVERYWHERE! I try to organize one room and dis-organize the others. I need HELP! My study/office looks like a disaster area or toxic waste dump~and I can’t see the wood on the desk! I am embarrassed and I hate it looking like that, but I get so frustrated when I try to fix it. I’m not a hoarder yet…but heaven help me ~ I’m headed that way!! I sure could use some help….I think if I could get it straight..maybe I could keep it that way ~ :)

I find the hardest room to keep clean is our master bedroom! I know I want this space to be tranquil, but it always seems to be the place for everything that doesn’t have a home. Including any toy that was being fought over during the day or previous days!!

My living room. Which is of course the first room ANYONE who enters my house sees. The bottom of the stair is literally the first thing you can see when you open my door and the everyday dump zone. Then there is the couch where I sort my laundry cause my laundry room is just big enough for the washer and dryer. Then my sons table is off to the side that always is cluttered with soda cans, plates, and other random dishes as well sometimes mail. Which brings us to the computer desk which catches everything else. So all my 4 hotspots are in one room. I have started on organizing and decluttering. I put a book shelf at the bottom of the stairs which will have baskets (one for mail, one for take with you in the morning ((such as go back rentals)) and for the dog leash and such) as well as hooks to hang our keys and my purse.) And now have some great advice on how to tackle the other 4 inside areas. I look forward to more tips and ideas to make my house (and there for my life) less cluttered and much more enjoyable.

Our kitchen is the dumping ground for everything, it’s the drop zone for everything, I guess because it is our main gathering area. I love to organize and purge however time is my big issue. Love your tips. and your giveaway

I hate clutter and do a decent job containing it, except in my bedroom!! Not in there much and no one sees it, so its easy to neglect!! My dresser gets piled high with stuff and you will usually find a basket or two of clean laundry on the floor!!

Gosh, every room is hard around here. The kitchen is probably the worst offender, in a respect, since we all use it multiple times a day. The master bedroom is a close second, but it’s not at “dirty” since there’s no food up there. We’re nibbling away at our clutter (have been for years, actually) and hope to be in better shape by the end of the year. I took 7 boxes and 1 bag of stuff to the thrift store yesterday and there’s still so much to do! Nibble away at it and eventually there won’t be any left. No need to try to tackle it all in a day. As with weight loss, the extra pounds didn’t go on in a day, and they won’t come off that way. Little by little.

The kids playroom! I have to pick up toys and books constantly or else it looks like a tornado went through that room. I am a “neat freak” and the playroom is a major stressor. It could really use some help in the storage category!!

GRRR where do i start ? Well, first off is my counter, everything from mail and anything anyone brings in the door gets put on the counter . It seems to some, stairs were made to put everything you dont want to take upstairs ! Then of course the bathroom , why is it im the only one that picks up my dirty towels and clothes ? Let’s dont leave out my washroom that he seems to think is his garage to keep his tools, or anything else that belongs in the garage . This article was very helpful , maybe i can get things in order by following this advice .

I just I would have to say my island in my kitchen catches all the paper and mail that comes in the house. Also, make scrapbook studio is a disaster that I don’t even scrapbook right now because it is to over whelming for me. I just keep my scrapbook studio door closed:( Thanks for giving me the chance to enter.

My most cluttered room is the kitchen. Especially the kitchen table–it’s the first room we come to when we enter the house so the table is the catch-all. My husband like to eat on TV trays in the den at the end of a long day, so the table clutter stays until I just can’t take it anymore!!

Right now it seems to be the dining room. With our current room arrangement it is a pass through room and the first place with clear surfaces to set things down. If there isn’t an assigned place for something, it seems to get left here on the on table or sideboard.

My most cluttered room is definitely the kitchen! We live in a townhouse and the kitchen is really tiny. We don’t have a lot of storage so food and cooking utensils end up on the counters taking up what little space we do have! Its crazy!

We have a lot of construction going on in our house and those areas are always getting out of control. My hotspots are our coffee table, kitchen counter and the chair beside my bed, I always seem to toss my clothes there.

My laundry is the dump. I never have trouble with the actual clothing. But the stuff!!! The clutter from the kitchen counter thrown in a bag, the items on their way OUT of the house, the stuff coming IN the house, stuff that kids left behind, due library books…it captures it all and lets go of very little! Help!

Our Kitchen truly is the heart of our home and the biggest area of clutter. Will enjoy it for it’s purpose of gathering and nurturing, not pushing aside clutter to do that.
Thanks for the challenge and helpful tips.